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6 Detroit police officers suspended amid bribery probe

The FBI probe, sources said, involves allegations that officers took bribes from collision shops and towing companies who paid the officers in exchange for giving them work when they found stolen vehicles.

The FBI probe, sources said, involves allegations that police officers took bribes from collision shops and towing companies who paid the officers money in exchange for giving them work when they found stolen vehicles. One source said the going bribe rate in such deals is $500 — that's how much a collision shop pays a police officer who persuaded the owner of a stolen car to send their car to a particular collision shop.

The officers have been suspended with pay, according to Michael Woody, director of media relations for the Detroit police department. It is not known whether they will be criminally charged, he said.

Timothy Wiley, spokesman for Detroit's FBI office, would not offer specifics on the investigation, saying only: "The FBI Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force has an ongoing investigation. We are working together with the Detroit Police Department's internal affairs."

Mark Diaz, president of the Detroit Police Officers Association, said the officers were suspended for conduct unbecoming a police officer. He said the union has been in contact with a couple of the officers, who were not given specifics about the allegations. Diaz called the ambiguity unacceptable.

Willie Bell, chairman of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, said there are 20-plus companies authorized to handle towing in areas of the city. He said the companies are supposed to be tapped to tow vehicles based on a rotation.

He said allegations of improper conduct related to towing were steered to the department’s internal affairs section over the summer.

It’s unclear whether those allegations are connected to the federal probe.

The nature and length of the investigation is unclear.

But Woody said that the suspensions are not related to a prior narcotics investigation that led to the convictions of two Detroit police officers for plotting fake drug busts with the help of drug dealers.